this is her salvation
by neverephemeral
Summary: Darcy sought comfort in Tony's work lab. Not from Tony himself but rather in being able to cry there, without someone trying to comfort her. She knew that Tony would let her cry while he continued working, as if nothing was happening.


_**Hey everyone! Thank you to everyone who has commented on my stories. I appreciate it and it means a lot to me. (:**_

* * *

 _Baby we're a little different_  
 _there's no need to be ashamed  
-_ Read All About It Part 3 by Emeli Sande _  
_

 _ **TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE**_

 ** _T_** _his past Saturday afternoon James 'Bucky' Barnes was spotted out in Manhattan with_

 _none other than Miss Darcy Lewis. Only the night before she was seen sharing_

 _a romantic dinner with Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America._

 _It was only a few months earlier that there was speculation that_

 _Lewis was a new fling of Tony Stark. However, sources_

 _state that Miss Lewis is in fact in a relationship with both_

 _Barnes and Rogers. It seems that Lewis has no problem with_

 _supporting the Avengers team._

 **D** arcy was unable to stop herself from reading the latest article written about her in the New York Times. She kept reading the headline over and over again, _two for the price of one._ It was certainly a classier way to call her a whore; something the Washington Post had no problem in doing. The Washington Post had straight up called her a harlot.

 _The Washington Post._

"I thought I had gotten all of those," Jane groaned as she walked into her work station that she shared with Dr. Selvig; and occasionally Bruce and Tony. "Pepper actually ordered that the newspapers and magazines stopped being delivered here."

"Mhm," Darcy wasn't paying attention to Jane. She was still intently focused on the headline.

"Bucky and Steve are going to have a field day when they get back," Jane said as she flipped through the papers sitting on her work desk. "Have you heard from them?"

"Two for the price of one," Darcy mumbled under her breath.

Jane turned to look at her, "what?"

"Two for the price of one," Darcy looked up at her boss and best friend. "That's the name of the article. It's catchy."

"Darcy," Jane frowned.

"No," Darcy shook her head, "you have to admit it, Jane. Who knew the New York Times would be classier than the Washington Post."

"Darcy."

"Well, you can't really blame the Washington Post. We are talking about Captain America," Darcy shrugged. "That's fair."

"Hey," Jane stood in front of Darcy, forcing the other woman to stop talking and focus on her. "Don't listen to the newspapers or the tabloids. They're wrong."

"Are they?" Darcy asked.

"What?" Jane looked at her. "Come on, Darcy, of course they are."

Darcy shrugged, "I'm in a relationship with two men at the same time. I'm sleeping with the both of them, one of them being Captain America. I'm ruining his reputation. The Golden Boy of America." She shook her head, "I am a whore."

"Darcy," Jane sighed, unable to find the proper words to comfort her best friend.

"I know," Darcy nodded, "thanks Jane."

Without saying anything else, Darcy gathered up the newspaper and left the work room; trying her hardest to keep her tears at bay.

* * *

Later in the evening, the team had returned home from their mission. Darcy, who had fallen asleep, awoke to the sound of Bucky in the kitchen. She expected Steve to either be in the kitchen with Bucky or in the living room but found no sign of him anywhere.

"Where's-what the hell happened to your hand?!" Darcy rushed to the other side of the island counter and gently grabbed Bucky's nonmetal hand in her own, inspecting the bandage.

"I'm fine doll," Bucky said, "it'll be healed in a few hours."

"Did you get wounded on the mission?" Darcy asked.

"Not exactly," Bucky murmured.

Darcy looked up, "what do you mean?"

"I put my hand through a glass door when we returned," Bucky replied.

"What? Why?" Darcy asked and then realization hit her. "Jane."

Bucky nodded, "we saw, doll. The newspapers."

"Where's Steve?" Darcy asked.

"Down in the gym," Bucky said. "Sam and Natasha are down there with him. I told him I was going to come up and check on you, let you know we were home." He kissed her on her lips. "Found you sleeping instead and I didn't have the heart to disturb you."

Darcy nodded as she chewed on her bottom lip. Whenever Steve was having a rough day and didn't want to be around anyone or he didn't want Darcy to see him in an angry way, he would go down to the gym. Sometimes he was down there for hours which usually led Bucky to go down and retrieve him before he damaged himself.

"Hey," Bucky brought her back from her thoughts, he was staring directly at her, "we love you. Whatever they post in those papers is bullshit." He walked around the island counter, bringing his hands up to cup her face gently, "you're the farthest thing from a harlot. Don't doubt yourself, doll." He kissed her on her lips. "Time for me to go get Steve from the gym."

Darcy nodded, "I'm going to lay back down."

"Okay," Bucky said, "we'll join you soon."

She could handle the newspapers calling her a whore, even a home wrecker but when they called her a replacement for Peggy, that was what broke her. That hurt her the most out of everything. Peggy had always been a sensitive topic for not only Steve but Darcy as well. Unknown to everyone except for Jane, Darcy had always thought that she could never compare to Peggy. Darcy knew that it wasn't fair of her to think like that but she couldn't help it.

Nick Fury had called a meeting for Steve, Bucky and her. When they arrived, they were shocked to find Pepper and Hill there. From the look on Fury's face, Darcy knew it was going to be bad. Pepper was the one who initially found out about the article who then brought it to Fury's attention. Hill was the next one to report that the article had gone viral and that there were people blogging about.

 _Peggy was Steve's one true love. Darcy would never compare._

Steve clenched his fists, the only physical sign of his anger.

Bucky punched a hole in the table.

Darcy sat there stunned and overwhelmed with emotions. Then after a moment of processing she excused herself and fled from the room.

* * *

Darcy sought comfort in Tony's work lab. Not from Tony himself but rather in being able to cry there, without someone trying to comfort her. She knew that Tony would let her while he continued working, as if nothing was happening.

That's exactly what she needed at the moment and that's exactly what she did.

Her complete meltdown happened for 10 minutes and Tony continued working all those 10 minutes. It was only when Darcy had sunk to the floor, wiping her tears from her cheeks with her sleeves; finished with crying for now, that he said anything.

"Fuck them."

"What?" Darcy sniffled and looked up at him.

Tony put down his wrench, his hands covered in grease. "Fuck them. Fuck all of them."

"Tony," Darcy shook her head.

"Jarvis, definition of polyamory," Tony said.

"Polyamory is the practice, desire or acceptance of intimate relationships that are not exclusive with respect to other sexual or intimate relationships, with knowledge and consent of everyone involved," Jarvis responded.

"Are you all consenting adults?" Tony asked.

Darcy nodded, "yeah."

"Do you all have knowledge that you are with Steve while also being with Bucky?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," Darcy answered.

"Do you love them?"

"Yes," Darcy said.

"Do they love you?"

"Of course," Darcy said.

Tony shrugged, "then fuck them. As far as I can see, as long as you're all in love and consenting to this relationship then it's not anyone else's business."

Darcy nodded. If only it were that easy to brush it off like Tony did but it wasn't. Darcy wasn't him.

"Lewis, Steve isn't the type of person to treat any woman like a replacement," Tony said.

Darcy looked over at him.

"He loves you for you," Tony said.

* * *

When Darcy found Steve in the gym sparring, she wasn't shocked to find him alone this time. From the sweat soaking his shirt and face, she knew that he had been here for awhile. She only took a couple of steps into the gym before she stopped and just watched him beat the punching bag. She knew that Steve knew she was here but that still didn't make her say anything. She didn't know what she was suppose to say.

"You're not a replacement."

Darcy jumped from the shock of hearing Steve's voice.

"You're not a replacement," Steve said, breathing hard with his entire focus on her. "Peggy is my past."

"She was your first love," Darcy said.

Steve nodded, "she was but she's not my only love. My love that I have for you is different than the love I had for her. I'm always going to love Peggy but I'm _in_ love with you, Darcy. I chose you," he walked over to her. "I'd choose you every time."

"They don't understand," Darcy said.

"All I care about is that you understand how much I love you," Steve said. "How much Bucky loves you and how wrong they all are. Do you understand that, Darce?"

She nodded, "I do."

She didn't care that he was dripping from sweat because she needed to be held by him. Steve's arms wrapped around her tight, holding her to him. It was here in his arms and in Bucky's arms that she felt most safe and loved.

* * *

 ** _Thank you for reading! :)_**


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